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Take a Tour of the World’s Greenest Museum

California Academy of Sciences Touts ‘Sustainability’ as Museum Attraction

The historic California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco has re-opened for business and is being called the ‘greenest museum’ in the world. Correspondent Sumi Das talks to Aaron Pope, the manager of sustainability programs at the Academy about the energy efficient technologies they’re using to reduce costs including a solar installation and a natural ventilation system. He also discusses how the museum is marketing its ‘green’ innovations to attract more visitors. The strategy is working, the museum is averaging 43,000 visitors a week, which is 60 percent better than initial projections.

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Tags: Museum, Leadership, Strategy, Management, Green, Cal Academy

  • How HP is Tackling E-Waste

    How HP is Tackling E-Waste

    PC maker, Hewlett-Packard has an ambitious goal to recycle two billion pounds of e-waste by 2010. Correspondent Sumi Das talks to the companys director of sustainability, Bonnie Nixon, about how they are meeting the challenge by building recycling facilities and stepping up their business practices globally. Das also speaks with Michelle Price, a marketing manager with HPs imaging and printing group. Price demonstrates how HP is re-using materials from old printer cartridges to create new ones through a process called closed-loop recycling.

    Tags: Hewlett-Packard Co., Printers, Document Management, Hardware, Peripherals, Enterprise Software, Software, Finance, Managerial Accounting, e-waste

    Date: 06-02-09 Length: 00:04:00

  • What Sustainable Design Means to the Bottom Line

    What Sustainable Design Means to the Bottom Line

    Autodesk tools aim to help designers conceptualize projects on a computer before starting the costly (and energy-intense) construction process. Correspondent Sumi Das talks to the companys director of sustainability, Lynelle Cameron about how architects for the Cathedral of Christ the Light and the California Academy of Sciences used sustainable design in their structures. Cameron adds, while green design isnt the top priority for all companies, she says sustainability can help the bottom line and will one day be part of everyday business practices.

    Tags: Sustainability, Bottom Line, Cameron, Autodesk

    Date: 04-07-09 Length: 00:03:26

  • Cisco Saves 90 Million Using TelePresence

    Cisco Saves 90 Million Using TelePresence

    Business travel is getting more costly everyday so many companies are turning to video conferencing to curb corporate travel. Cisco Systems has built a solution known as TelePresence. In this video, correspondent Sumi Das meets Laura Ipsen, co-chair of Ciscos Eco-Board. They talk about various green initiatives Cisco is developing such as a new Wi-Fi enabled city bus, energy efficient workspaces and their video conferencing solution. According to Ipsen, TelePresence has had a strong financial impact internally saving the company 90 million dollars in 18 months by reducing 20,000 meetings.

    Tags: The Green Enterprise, Video Conferencing, Cisco Systems Inc., TelePresence

    Date: 09-04-08 Length: 00:03:15

  • Napa Valley Hotel Prototypes Eco-Friendly Tourism

    Napa Valley Hotel Prototypes Eco-Friendly Tourism

    Hotels are known as energy wasters, generating large amounts of water and electricity to serve their customers. But one hotel entrepreneur is trying to change that by going green. In this video, correspondent Sumi Das meets Wen Chang, founder of the Gaia Hotel in the Bay Areas Napa Valley. He believes hotel owners can do more to help the environment, without hurting the bottom line. According to Chang, the Gaia Hotel is saving $50,000 to 75,000 dollars a year on electricity by using clean energy to power 12% of its operations.

    Tags: The Green Enterprise, Hotel, Entrepreneurship, Corporate Communications, Management, Marketing, Green, Green Enterprise

    Date: 07-22-08 Length: 00:02:38

  • Architect Finds Niche 'Greening' Homes

    Architect Finds Niche %27Greening%27 Homes

    In this episode of "Green Business Tactics," we meet architect Eric Corey Freed. Inspired by his childhood idol Frank Lloyd Wright, Freed renovates homes and structures to be more sustainable through architectural design, advancements in renewable energy, and the use of recycled metals and glass, and eco-friendly materials, such as bamboo.

    Tags: Home, Telecom & Utilities, SmartPlanet, Eric Corey Freed

    Date: 09-14-09 Length: 00:02:26

  • Going Green Inside The Wine Business

    Going Green Inside The Wine Business

    Frogs Leap Winery is nestled in the Bay Areas scenic Napa Valley. The vineyard is known for its crisp sauvignon blancs, and earthy zinfandels, but now theyre getting attention as one of first wineries in the U.S to be sustainable. In this video, we meet the winerys general manager, Jonah Beer. According to Beer, the winerys motivation to be green, is as much about the bottom line as it is about the environment. Financial benefits include: a solar installation that is saving the vineyard $50,000 dollars a month on electric bills and dry farming techniques that bypass the need for costly irrigation. Note: Frogs Leap Winery requires an appointment for tastings and tours.

    Tags: The Green Enterprise, Winery, Wine, Frog, Vineyard, Best Practices

    Date: 07-15-08 Length: 00:03:24

  • Sun, Employees Save Big with Open Work

    Sun, Employees Save Big with Open Work

    In an age of high gas prices and global warming, businesses are trying to figure out how their employees can spend less time on the road and more time telecommuting. Sun Microsystems believes they've hit upon the answer with their 10-year-old Open Work platform. In this video, correspondent Sumi Das meets Dave Douglas, vice president of eco-responsibility, and finds out how the project operates and why it's been a success. According to Douglas, Open Work has had a strong financial and environmental impact, saving 68 million in real estate and energy costs and cutting carbon emissions by 29,000 tons in 2007.

    Tags: The Green Enterprise, Sun Microsystems Inc., Telecommuting, Human Resources, Workforce Management,

    Date: 07-18-08 Length: 00:03:00

  • Take a Tour of the World’s Greenest Museum

    Take a Tour of the World’s Greenest Museum

    The historic California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco has re-opened for business and is being called the greenest museum in the world. Correspondent Sumi Das talks to Aaron Pope, the manager of sustainability programs at the Academy about the energy efficient technologies theyre using to reduce costs including a solar installation and a natural ventilation system. He also discusses how the museum is marketing its green innovations to attract more visitors. The strategy is working, the museum is averaging 43,000 visitors a week, which is 60 percent better than initial projections.

    Tags: Museum, Leadership, Strategy, Management, Green, Cal Academy

    Date: 03-31-09 Length: 00:03:17

  • Utility Giant Embraces A Future With Renewables

    Utility Giant Embraces A Future With Renewables

    California utility giant PG&E has made it one of its business goals to invest in clean energy. In the last few years, the company has signed contracts with renewable energy providers in the areas of solar, wind, wave and biogas. In this video, correspondent Sumi Das meets Ha LaFlash, director of emerging clean tech energy policy. According to La Flash, while going green will cost more up front, its the right business decision because the move to clean energy by its millions of customers, could one day make a meaningful impact on the environment.

    Tags: The Green Enterprise, Clean Technology, Green

    Date: 08-04-08 Length: 00:03:11

 

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Take a Tour of the World’s Greenest Museum

The historic California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco has re-opened for business and is being called the ‘greenest museum’ in the world. Correspondent Sumi Das talks to Aaron Pope, the manager of sustainability programs at the Academy about the energy efficient technologies they’re using to reduce costs including a solar installation and a natural ventilation system. He also discusses how the museum is marketing its ‘green’ innovations to attract more visitors. The strategy is working, the museum is averaging 43,000 visitors a week, which is 60 percent better than initial projections.

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>> The historic California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco has re-opened for business and is being called the greenest museum in the world. The renovation of the 150 year old institution was 3 years in the making. The idea was to create an eco-friendly museum from the ground up. Aaron Pope assumed spelling is the manager of sustainability programs at the Academy.

>> Inside this building we had to fit a rainforest, a tropical reef, a natural history museum, and a planetarium and a very large public space. So when you think about combining all those different features together into 1 building, something like this had never been done before. So a lot of the challenges were to decide how to take all of these pieces and make them fit together in a sustainable way.

>> Museum officials believe sustainability is smart business and good for the bottom line.

>> The greener the museum has helped the bottom line in 2 ways. Long term: the design features which we've integrate into this building will actually save us money in terms of our water bill and our energy bill and probably in terms of our maintenance expenses too.

>> One of the highlights of the Academy is this living roof. It has more than 1.7 million individual plants and it covers 2.5 acres. Bird sounds. The living roof provides natural ventilation inside the building, reducing the need for a costly air conditioning system.

>> These very steep hills help to channel cold air into the piazza once the cold air enters in through the piazza it's then sucked out into these other windows into the main opening of public spaces and cools it naturally. The museum also uses solar energy to power 8% of its operations.

>> We figure we'll probably save anywhere between 15 and 100,000 dollars a year from this, from this photo ray and they will pay themselves back over the course of probably about 15-17 years.

>> The green features have also helped the museum achieve valuable LEAD platinum certification. LEAD which stands for leadership in energy and environmental design is an organization responsible for setting standards on green building design. Engineers used recycled materials in the construction process from steel and cement in the walls to even blue jeans for insulation.

>> What this material is, is actually scraps of blue jean denim from a denim factory. There is a company that takes these scraps and grinds them up and compresses them into this insulation material and this insulation material is actually in the walls throughout the academy.

>> The total cost to build the new academy 488 million dollars, which was 10% more than if architects went the conventional construction route. But museum officials are hoping to recoup those costs and achieve profitability through energy efficiency and by attracting visitors.

>> The public is very, very interested in supporting organizations which are going green and showing concern for the environment and a very big part of our image and our lure right now Background music I think is the fact that we've made a very big commitment to try and lower our own environmental foot print and also to educate visitors about environmental problems and possible solutions that they may face out in the real world.

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>> For BNET I'm Sumi Das.

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==== Transcribed by Automatic Sync Techologies ====